Bed rail



July 28, 1942. s. PARSONS I 2,291,102

I BED RAIL Filed July 15. 1,940

STUART WPARJONJ Patented July 28, 1942 BED RAIL Stuart W. Parsons, NewBritain, Conn., assgnor to The Stanley AWorks, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application July 13, 1940, Serial No. 345,253

27Claims. (CLE-2.96)

'Ihe presentY invention relates to bedsteads and more particularly to an improved bed'rail.

Generally, the invention relates to bedsteads utilizing rails of the type which are provided at each end with a` coupling member including a pair of hooks insertable within a slot inthe bed post and interlockingly engageable with a pair of coupling pins extending'transversely of the slot. Although the above described type of connection maintains the parts assembled, difliculty is experienced in that a fitting cannot be obtained which will assure the various bed members being held rigid and without relative movement of one with another with the resultant creaking of parts and possible breakage.

The object of the present 'invention is to pro- Vide av bed rail of such construction that upon assembly with the bed post positive rigidity is assured.

Another object is a bed rail of the above indicated type which may be readily and economically manufactured and has all the advantages of rails of like type heretofore manufactured but lacking the disadvantages referred to above.

Other objects will be in.part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

'I'he invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplied in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a bedstead embodying the invention herein;

Fig. 2 is a full size view of the bed rail coupling member; and

Fig. 3 is an end view of the bed rail.

Referring to the drawing, there are shown opposing head and foot bedposts I and I2 comprising one side of a bedstead. Each post has cut in the surface thereof facing the other post a narrow, vertically extending, relatively deep slot I4, and arranged transversely of each slot is a pair of coupling pins I6 and I8 spaced one above the other and with their centers in lvertical alignment.

To secure the head and foot posts together, there is provided a bed rail including a metal member and a wooden spacing and abutment member 22. The metal member 20 includes a base 24 of right angular cross section comprising a side plate 26 and a lateral flange 28 for supporting the bed spring. There is further secured to each end of the side plate 26, as by Welding, a

,over and hide the side plate 26 and a portionof each coupling member 30. The spacing member 22 is of such length that the respective vertical ends thereof are spaced inwardly from the outer edge of the coupling member a distance less than the depth of the slot vI4 in the bed posts for reasons hereinafter apparent.l The rail members are held in proper relative positions by a right angle anchor 42 having its horizontal leg 44 underlying the flange 28 and its vertical leg extending through an opening in the flange and secured to the inner face of member 22.

The structure so far described is for the most part similar in construction to the bed rails and posts which have heretofore been constructed. In accordance with the present invention the coupling members 30 are so constructed that when they cooperate with the coupling pins I6 and I8 the bed posts are'drawn into abutment with the vertical ends 23 of the Wooden rail member 22 and held rigidly and flush thereagainst. To accomplish this, the top coupling slot 32 includes a bottom llet 44, an outer camming edge 46, and an inner edge 48; and the bottom slot 34 is of likecontour having a fillet 44a, outer camming edge 46a, and inner edge 48a.. However, the slots are so positioned that the radial center of the llet 44 normally lies inwardly of and closer to the end 23 of the member 22 than does the radial center of the fillet 44a, and inasmuch as the slots are of like contour it will be seen that any point on the upper slot 32 lies the same distance inwardly of a corresponding point on the bottom slot 34. y

With the slots so disposed, upon inserting the couplingfmembers 30 within the post slots I4 and then lowering same, the coupling pins I6 will engage the camming edge 46 of the upper hook 36 before the coupling pin I 8 engages the camming edge 46a of lower hook 38, as in Fig. 2. Thereafter, upon the bed rail being further forced downward, the camming edge 46 will press the bed post in against the end 23 of member 22 until further movement therebetween is prevented. As the bed rail is made of metal upon forcing same into position the outward force of the pin I6 on the hook 36 will, due to the flexibility of the metal, cause the coupling member and adjacent portion of the rail to distort and bring the top and bottom slots into substantially vertical alignment. When this occurs the coupling member and rail will be in the position indicated by-dotted lines in Fig. 2, and both pins I6 and I8 will engage the respective camming edges 46 and 46a. As the camming edge 46a now engages the coupling pin I8, forces will be exerted by both hooks 36 and 38 pulling the bed post into rigid abutment with the end 23 of the rail. Inasmuch as the force exerted by the pin I6 is always greater than the force exerted by the pin I8 a torque is imposed upon the bed post which eliminates any tendency of the post to wobble. Moreover, as the pins cannot bottom in the slots a tight t is always assured.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that al1 matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a pair of bed posts each having a vertical slot therein and a pair of spaced coupling pins extending transversely of the slot and positioned in vertical alignment, securing means extending between said bed posts and comprising a bed rail provided on each end with a coupling member receivablein said slot, a spacing member supported by said bed rail and against the ends of which the bed posts are adapted to abut and lie flush, and a pair of hooks carried by each of said coupling members for drawing said bed posts into abutment against the ends of said spacing member, said hooks being dened by top and bottom slots cut in said coupling members, said slots being of like contour and said top slot being oiset inwardly from said lower slot and said bed rail being sufliciently ilexible to permit bending upon forcing of the coupling hooks behind the coupling pins in said bed posts, whereby the slots will be moved into substantially vertical alignment and the bed posts rigidly held against the ends of the spacing members.

2. I n combination a bed post having top and bottom pins extending transversely of the post, a metal bed rail, a vertical abutment member carried by said rail and means on said rail for engaging said pins to secure said rail and post and comprising a coupling member extending beyond the vertical abutment member and provided with top and bottom slots dening top and bottom hooks, each having an inner camming edge engageable with said respective top and bottom pins, said camming edges and said pins being so positioned that the camming edge of the top hook will engage the top pin prior to the engagement between the camming edge of the bottom hook and the bottom pin, whereby when said rail is forced downwardly to bring said lower hook camming edge into engagement with the bottom pin, said rail will distort to impose a torque upon the bed post which will maintain it flush and rigid against said abutment member.

STUART W. PARSONS. 

